Solar Power Suffers Setback

An Act to Modernize Rates for Small-scale Distributed Generation (2017)

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a rule, effective January 1, 2018, that will charge people for the solar they produce to power their own homes. The rule will require Central Maine Power (CMP) to install new meters on solar homes, which are to be paid for by all ratepayers, not CMP. The rule will also eliminate net-metering, the current reimbursement mechanism to solar producers for the power they sell back to the grid, in 2018. LD 1504, which was amended, would have superseded the rule and required the PUC to develop an alternative to net-metering by 2019, and to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of it. Additionally, the bill would have increased the number of people who can participate in a solar farm to 100 from the current limit of 10. The bill passed the legislature by more than a two-thirds majority in both bodies and was vetoed by the governor. While the Senate overrode the veto, the House sustained it. The veto override votes are scored here.